Cymatics is a word
coined by Dr. Hans Jenny, a Swiss medical doctor, who in his spare time
investigated the power of sound to create form. Jenny spent many hours
observing the effects of sound upon matter. Many consider this work to
be the seminal most important demonstration of the ability of sound to
shape substance.

The word, Cymatics
is Greek for waveform because sound travels as a wave. Throughout
history there have been people who have observed and investigated the
unique ability of the vibrations of sound to effect and shape different
substances.

Many of us back in
high school science might have seen an experiment performed where a
science teacher scattered sand on a steel plate and then vibrated this
plate with a violin bow. The sand would begin to move and take on
symmetrical shapes-geometric and organic looking. These experiments were
based upon the work of an l8th century German physicist named Ernst
Chladni

Dr. Jenny’s work was
a further extension of this work. His Cymatic experiments show the
effects of sound waves upon many different types of material, including
water, pastes, liquids and plastics. Dr. Jenny placed these substances
on a steel plate, vibrated the plate with a crystal oscillator, which
produces an exact frequency, and then photographed the effects.

What Dr. Jenny observed with these experiments was recorded and printed in a monumental work entitled CYMATICS.
Several of the photographs from this book are printed below as well as
other related photos. As you can see, these liquids, pastes, dust and
plastics take on incredibly organic looking shapes. Within the hundreds
of photographs taken by Dr. Jenny are pictures that look like starfish,
human cells and organs, underwater and microscopic life, but are in
reality inorganic materials which had looked like lifeless shapes
moments before they were exposed to sound.

Dr. Jenny’s work
demonstrates positive proof of the amazing power of sound to create
form. While the structures and objects created by the sound are not
living creatures, many of them certainly look as though they are. One
can almost imagine that, with a “Divine” sound coming from a sacred
source, in the beginning the “Word” could indeed create life.

Dr. Jenny’s work has
been carried on by several people in the 21st century, including
Alexander Lauterwasser of Germany and John Reid of England. The
following images demonstrate the power of sound to create form:

Image 1

Image 2

Images 1 & 2 are by Dr. Hans Jenny from his book CYMATICS (Macromedia). They are of two different frequencies creating two
different geometric shapes of water being vibrated on a steel plate.

Image 3

Image 4

Images 3 & 4 are also by Dr. Jenny from the same source. These are of liquid plastic
on a steel plate being resonated by different sounds. One image looks
almost like a sea anenomie and the other shape resembles a cell of the
body undergoing mitosis

Image 5

Image 6

Images 5 & 6 are Cymaglyphs by Erik Larsen, using John Reid’s Cyma-Scope to photograph the effects of sound upon water. From THE 7 SECRETS OF SOUND HEALING (Hay House), these beautiful geometric images, which demonstrate the
power of different frequencies to create different shapes, are a further
extension of Dr. Jenny’s work.

Image 7

Image 8

Images 7 & 8 are from a book SHRI YANTRA (Thames). Image 7 is a picture of an ancient Hindu image (mandala)
called the Shri Yantra, that many believe to be the visual depiction of
the sacred mantra “Om”. Image 8 is said to be an electronically enhanced
tonoscope (a device much like Jenny’s instrument) image into which
someone chanted “Om” through a microphone with the sound effecting the
form of colored sand on a steel plate.